Citrus crops including Mandarin Oranges are recognized to be important to the agricultural economy in many parts of the world.
The new hybrid Citrus cultivar of the present invention was created during the spring of 1996 at Moncada, Valencia, Spain, when two parents were crossed which previously had been studied in the hope that they would contribute the desired characteristics required to produce quality late-ripening seedless fruit. The female parent (i.e., the seed parent) was the ‘Fortune’ Mandarin cultivar (non-patented in the United States). ‘Fortune’ is recognized to be a diploid formed by the hybridization of C. clementina×C. tangerina. The male parent (i.e., the pollen parent) was the ‘Kara’ Mandarin cultivar (non-patented in the United States). ‘Kara’ is a diploid of C. unshiu×C. nobilis. In order to achieve the cross, the anthers of the ‘Kara’ mandarin cultivar were removed from flowers collected during pre-anthesis and were dried in Petri dishes over silica gel in a desiccator. Dried dehisced anthers were stored in small Petri dishes at −20° C. The controlled cross-pollination was carried out by applying one anther from the male parental plant to a receptive stigma of a flower of the female parental plant. Approximately 100 flowers of the female parental plant were pollinated. From these female parental plants, 50 fruits were collected that contained 145 small seeds. Embryos numbering 134 were isolated from these seeds and were cultured in vitro. Small plants numbering 130 were recovered and were maintained. When analyzed by the use of flow cytometry, 126 of the small plants were confirmed to be triploids. The resulting triploid plants were transferred to standard potting mix and were grown under greenhouse conditions until April, 1998. Each plant next was grafted on ‘Carrizo’ Citrange rootstock (non-patented in the United States), which is recognized to be a cross of C. sinensis×Poncinus trifoliate, and was planted in the field for detailed evaluation. These plants first flowered during the spring of 2001, and a single plant of the present invention was selected during 2004, and was further grafted (as described) for further evaluation. The new plant initially was designated IVIA TRI 2.
It was found that the new triploid Mandarin Orange hybrid plant of the present invention displays the following combination of characteristics:                (a) displays a vigorous and erect-drooping growth habit,        (b) forms dark green leaves, and        (c) forms attractive easy-to-peel seedless dark orange obloid-shaped medium-late-maturing fruit having a convex base with an excellent mildly acidic flavor.        
The new cultivar readily can be distinguished from its parental cultivars. More specifically, each parent plant is a diploid, unlike the triploid character of the new cultivar of the present invention.
The new cultivar also can be readily distinguished from the ‘Garbi’ cultivar (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 12/457,675, filed concurrently herewith). The ‘Garbi’ cultivar displays a less erect drooping growth habit and forms fruit of late maturity whereas the present cultivar forms fruit of medium-late maturity.
The asexual reproduction of the new cultivar of the present invention by grafting on ‘Carrizo’ rootstock at Moncada, Valencia, Spain, has confirmed that the combination of characteristics is stable and is strictly transmissible by such asexual propagation from one generation to another. Accordingly, the new cultivar of the present invention undergoes asexual propagation in a true-to-type manner.
The new plant of the present invention has been named ‘Safor’.